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Invictus.

(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Luksan)

Medically retired U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Sarah Rudder competes in the 200-meter dash in Toronto, Canada during Invictus Games 2017, an international Paralympic-style event. Rudder, who lost her leg due to injuries suffered at the Pentagon on 9/11,won seven gold medals at last year’s games in Orlando, Florida.

The Invictus Games, held September 23-to-30, are an international program created by Britain’s Prince Harry, in which wounded, injured, or sick service members and veterans compete in adaptive sports. The UK royal founded the event in 2014, inspired by the U.S. Defense Department-funded Warrior Games in America. The inaugural Invictus Games were held in September 2014, at many of the venues used for the 2012 London Olympics, according to the Telegraph website.

The poem Invictus, by English Victorian poet, William Ernest Henley, himself an amputee, ends with the famous lines:

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Above the Inferno.

(Air National Guard photo by Technical Sergeant Jeff Allen)

An Air National Guard pilot flying a C-130J cargo plane follows a Forest Service plane under a large column of smoke while preparing to drop retardant on the Pier Fire southeast of Fresno, California. The photo was taken August 29, 2017.

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Not a Toy.

(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Michaela R. Gregory)

Marine Corps Lance Corporal Ryan Skinner, with the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment prepares to fly the Mark-2 Instant Eye during the Infantry Platoon Battle Course as part of a Deployment for Training (DFT) at Fort Pickett, Virginia on August 15, 2017. The Instant Eye is a small unmanned aerial system to be deployed at the squad level for quick and local surveillance and reconnaissance.

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The Boys Are Back.

(Defense Department photo by Airman 1st Class Alexis C. Schultz)

Two old soldiers share a laugh while attending ceremonies marking the 73rd anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy in World War II. These two vets, who participated in the liberation of France, were photographed at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, France on June 5, 2017.

While memorial services for bloody battles are usually somber affairs, we thought this photo illustrated one of the things these veterans fought for besides liberty and democracy. It’s written right in the Declaration of Independence: “the pursuit of happiness.”

It’s worth noting that both of these American vets are wearing the Legion of Honor, France’s highest military honor. The former Army Ranger on the right is also wearing the Croix de guerre, France’s war cross.

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Here is a photo of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, America’s newest fighter/bomber and the most expensive military acquisition program in U.S. history.

A Fifth Generation Fighter with a host of targeting and surveillance sensors, the Lockheed Martin F-35 was develop[ed with the ability – depending on the variant – to fly off an aircraft carrier or take off and land vertically on an amphibious ship or tiny airstrip. Some have called this multi-role aircraft a flying Swiss Army knife because of its advanced integrated avionics and next generation radar-evading stealth technology. It is also a flying intelligence platform with enormous processing power and sophisticated sensors.

The F-35, officially known as the Lightning II, has a range of capabilities including: air-to-air combat; close air support; ground attack and intelligence gathering for joint and coalition irregular warfare operations, as well as major combat ops.

The next photo is the Fairchild RepublicA-10 Thunderbolt II. Sporting the latest 1970s technology, it was built to blow up Soviet tanks in Cold War battles that never happened. Better known as the “Warthog,” for its homely appearance, punishment-absorbing air frame and ferocious attack capabilities, the hog has won the respect of pilots and the love of ground troops in deployments from Bosnia to Iraq and Afghanistan and currently against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The single seat, twin engine jet’s sturdy airframe and fearsome armament, including a 30-milimeter, seven-barrel GAU-8/A Gatling gun, have led some to call it a flying tank. But those features made it ideal for delivering close air support to troops on the ground.

Because of congressionally-mandated budget constraints, the U.S. Air Force has been trying, since 2014, to retire the approximately 300 remaining A-10s. The cost of maintaining and upgrading the 40-year-old Warthogs threatened funding for the F-35 and two other top priority Air Force programs: the long range strike bomber and a new aerial refueling tanker. The Pentagon said the Air Force could save $3.5 billion over five years by retiring the A-10 fleet rather than upgrading it. Instead, said then- Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh — himself a former A-10 pilot — the F-35 could handle the A-10’s single mission of close air support.

But the A-10’s very vocal supporters in Congress, like Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman JohnMcCain (R-Ariz.), disputed that claim. They maintained the F-35, flying at Mach 1.6 (approximately 1,200 mph), moved too fast to loiter over a battlefield, while its lighter 25-milimeter canon only carried 182 rounds in the Air Force variant ( 220 rounds in the Navy and Marine Corps versions), compared to the Warthog’s 1,100-round capacity.

A size comparison of the GE GAU-8 Gatling gun, used on A-10 Thunderbolt II, and a Volkswagen Beetle. (U.S. Air Force photo via wikipedia)

Other advocates argued the A-10 could also fly combat search and rescue and surveillance missions. McCain noted in a white paper that funding constraints led the Air Force to slow procurement to a maximum 48 aircraft a year between Fiscal years 2018 and 2022. He has called for buying 300 “low-cost, light-attack fighters” to bridge the gap. The Air Force plans to test light attack aircraft at the OA-X demonstration this summer at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.

The Air Force also says it will not begin retiring the A-10 fleet before 2021, but Congress put language in the latest defense authorization bill barring the Air Force from parking the A-10s until it proves the F-35 can take over the close air support role.

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Purple Smoke for Iron Sword.

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Corrina Baltos.

Paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade work their way through purple signal smoke during Exercise Iron Sword in Pabrade, Lithuania last month. Iron Sword is an international training exercise featuring 11 NATO countries and about 4,000 troops.

Military observers from Belarus and Kazakhstan visited the two-week exercise, which ended December 2. NATO partners Sweden and Ukraine also sent military observers.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy, is the Army Contingency Response Force in Europe, and is capable of projecting forces to conduct a full range of military operations across the United States European, Central and Africa Command areas of responsibility within 18 hours, according to the U.S. Army.